TWENTY-FIVE - ROMAN
I stood at my post in the shadows, watching and listening to the entire exchange between Jameson and Kane, knowing that this could single-handedly be the most pivotal move in her entire career and life.
Kane was not new to me. He wasn’t new to anyone. I’d known him for as long as I’d been in the business, though he and I had never met face-to-face. This was about as close as I wanted to be to him.
The work I’d done to know the things that I did about him, his business, and his personal life all happened behind the scenes, obtaining and extracting information on a single person as much as one could.
There were things I knew about him that would have justified me ending him right here and now, but the timing wasn’t right… yet.
Nobody wanted him blown off the face of the Earth than me right now.
Finger on the trigger, I was itching for him to make the slightest fucking twitch so that I could put a hollow point between his eyes right there in the middle of a casino, patrons be damned.
I’d also promised James I wouldn’t do anything unless I absolutely had to. Unfortunately for me, Kane didn’t so much as get a single hair out of line the entire time…and then he slid his gun across the table.
“Just wait,” I whispered into my mic to everyone on the channel. I wanted to wait and see where this was going.
Don’t do it. I knew how badly she’d wanted this. Hell, we all did.
She held her ground. Atta girl.
Kane continued to egg her on, taunting her, practically begging for her to lose her cool…and then she did.
He’d pushed the right button. Fuck.
Kane kept his cool the entire time, even as she lost her shit and kicked him out. He casually slid back in his chair, stood up, and smiled at her like he’d just claimed victory over her.
I watched as he strode casually across the room, leaving through the main entrance, whistling some stupid ass tune as he left.
Jameson stood frozen and completely dumbfounded, right where Kane had left her.
“I need to get out of here,” she mumbled as she started to walk away.
I caught Leon out of the corner of my eye coming toward us. I held up my hand to stop him.
“I got her,” I said over the radio.
“Jameson,” I called out to get her attention.
She kept forging ahead, ignoring my plea, as if she were on a mission.
I followed behind her, picking up my pace to catch up to her. “Jameson Magnolia Hazentree.”
That worked.
She stopped short at the sound of her government name and spun around on her heels, narrowing her gaze. “What?”
“Where are you going?”
“Crazy. I’m going fucking crazy.” Relatable. “Did you hear him back there? Did you hear what he said?”
“Yeah, I heard him.” I darted my eyes around the room, then pulled my earpiece out and turned it off. “Not here, not now.”
She huffed. “I just—I don’t get it. All I wanted to do was host a fundraiser. Just one fucking time. Preferably without the risk of dying, and move on from all of this.” She waved her hand in the air. “Better yet, I want out. I just—I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
I wanted her out of all this shit, too. Hopefully, she was serious because if I had my way, she would be when all was said and done. If I’d known how this was how things were going to turn out, I never would have taken the job from the beginning.
It was too late now. I was in way too deep and over my head. She had no idea just how much she was, too.
“I know, but we need to get you out of here.”
She nodded in agreement. “Yeah, fine. Let’s go.”
I led her upstairs back to her place. Figured she’d be most comfortable there than anywhere else.
“Come. Sit down.” I walked her over to her couch.
She plopped down with a sigh of relief.
I knelt in front of her. “Take a deep breath. We’ll get through this.
Right now, the only thing I want you to focus on is Haunted Hearts.
Get as much money for charity out of these uppity pricks as you possibly can.
That’s what Elliott would have wanted; that’s what you want.
Not you sitting here worried about Kane and his bullshit. That’s my job.”
“It’s not an easy thing to do right now when my life is on the line.”
“I know it’s not, but as long as I’m alive, nothing is going to happen to you. You understand that? Nothing.”
“I hope you’re right about all of this because I’m not sure about anything anymore.”
The last thing I wanted her to know was I didn’t know a damned thing either.
My phone rang. A rare occurrence, considering how few people had this number. Though, I had a feeling about who it was.
I slipped the phone from my pocket and glanced at the screen. UNKNOWN flashed across the screen.
“Ivan?” Jameson asked.
“Uh, yeah. I need to take this. I’ll be right back.” I stepped out onto the balcony, pulling the sliding door closed behind me.
“Yeah,” I said, swiping up on the screen to answer the call.
“Roman, baby bro.”
“Make it quick. James is inside, burning a hole in the back of my head right now.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. I’m here.”
“Damn, you move fast.” Not wanting to be too suspicious, I stared down at my feet but kept the bottom of the door in my peripheral. If Jameson walked up, I’d see her feet.
“What can I say? You called and asked me for my help. That’s what I do. Bail you out when your ass gets in over your head.”
“Yeah, yeah, well, if I’d had any fucking clue about what I was getting into in the first place, I’d be in Costa Rica instead.”
“Somehow, I doubt that. Anyway, I’m on-site.”
I glanced up at James. She hadn’t moved. She was still sitting on the couch, reclined back with her eyes closed and feet propped up on the coffee table.
“Good. Right now, what I need is a burner or two. Can you handle that much?” I asked with a smart-ass tone.
There wasn’t much he couldn’t handle, that I knew for a fact. My brother could wipe out entire three-letter government agency computer programs or erase the dark web with the press of a few keystrokes if he really wanted to.
“Lucky you, I came prepared,” he assured. “How you wanna go about doing this?”
“I’m gonna get Ivan to cover for me, hold Jameson off, so we can chat in person. It’ll be tricky since I’m supposed to be her shadow.”
I didn’t want to leave James alone with anyone, but I damned sure wasn’t about to leave her unattended, especially since I’d already reassured her I wouldn’t leave her side.
But I had to get away for a few minutes without creating any suspicion on her end.
I thought for a second, coming up with a game plan on the fly, then told him when and where to meet me.
“Looking forward to it. I just hope you’re right with all this.” I could practically hear him shaking his head, his tone void of all sarcasm.
“Yeah, me fucking too,” I said, ending our call.
I stared at Jameson across the room. She hadn’t moved an inch, and I secretly hoped she’d fallen asleep.
A few seconds later, she cracked open one eye. When she caught me staring, they both flew open.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” Not that she’d heard me.
Jameson and I spent the rest of the afternoon going over last-minute details about the upcoming fundraiser—normally a task she’d be doing with Kelly and one that I found mundane.
But the more she spoke about the gala, the more I could feel her passion for this event pouring out of her.
Plus, it took her mind off everything else.
It didn’t take long before the conversation eventually shifted back to business. She had me go over the guest list with a fine-toothed comb, which, unbeknownst to her, I had already done…four times. But just to appease her, I did it a fifth.
We talked about her role and expectations for the night. The goal was for her to be a host, enjoy the evening, and reap the reward for all of the hard work she’d put into it over the last year.
My goal was to keep her alive.
I reassured her everything on my end was squared away.
I’d already been in contact with security to make sure that we had everything covered on our end.
All entrances and exits on the casino side would be guarded and completely inaccessible by anyone except for security, approved staff, and, worst case, emergencies. Then, it was exit only.
Leon already had his own plan in place when it came to the main event. He’d made sure there were enough men available there would be someone standing guard inside and out and around every corner, rerouting any unknown or uninvited guests back to their car or to another casino.
Jameson had assured me that their marketing department had been announcing for months that the casino would be closed for a private event. Guests staying at the hotel could stay, but their access to the casino would be cut off for the day and night.
In a perfect world, we had a plan in place that would, in theory, run like a well-oiled machine. The reality of it all was this was probably going to end up a shitshow of epic proportions.
Either way, at least one person, if not more, was not going to make it to see Sunday morning.
We would not be one of them.
We’d been sitting on the couch for way too long. My ass had gone numb, and time was running out before I needed to meet up with River. If I didn’t show up in a timely manner, he’d most definitely come looking for me himself.
“I need to meet with Leon. You okay with Ivan taking over for a few minutes?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Mr. I’m Never Leaving You Alone Again wants to leave me alone again? Seems suspicious.”
“Well, it’s not. And I’m not leaving you alone—you’ll be with Ivan.
Considering the shit we have going on, I just need to go over a few things with him before tomorrow, that’s all.
Didn’t think you’d want the added stress.
” Okay, so that was partly true. The less she knew, the better for everyone.
She needed to focus on hosting first and foremost. “It won’t take long.
We just need to iron out a few details.”
“Who am I to stop you? Do what you need to do.”
“So then you won’t stop me from doing this?”
“Doing wha—”